by Rev. M. B. Cothonay, O.P., 1911
In January, 1741, the last
month of the year according to the method of computation in vogue in Tonkin, a
rumor spread to the effect that the trial of Father Gil de Federich was at last
to be brought to an end, and that he would undoubtedly be beheaded. This was a
subject of the greatest sorrow to the Christians who had conceived a profound
veneration for their holy missionary. But Thay-Tinh was always there with his
powerful protectors to obtain another stay of proceedings which again filled
the Christians with the hope of purchasing the liberty of their Father.
On Holy Thursday he was
able to celebrate Mass in the presence of a great number of Christians and even
of infidels in the palace of the Chua's brother, Prince Diu. This prince, as is
well known, had a Christian mother whose name was Diu-Ba-Tram, and in order to
please her he had placed his house at the disposal of the Christians. On the
Holy Saturday following Father Gil celebrated Mass at the village of Bo-De on
the other side of the river in the presence of a still greater number of the faithful.
These events did not escape the notice of the court mandarins as the sequel
will show.
The civil war which had
broken out three years before was continued with greater fury than ever. The
King was in a state of exasperation at this state of affairs. One day the
thought occurred to him, or was perhaps suggested to him that this foreign religion
from the West which he was persecuting might, after all, be the means of
putting a check to the war and of assisting him to conquer his enemies.
Towards the end of
September the King's uncle had the servant of God brought to his palace where he
conversed with him for about a half hour on the subject of religion. Father Gil
spoke to him with such energy and conviction that the prince addressed him
about as follows: “It is well: I see how
reasonable is the faith which you preach. What I have just heard convinces me of
the truth of that which I have read in various books treating of religion. It
is the only one that can be accepted since the teachings of the other sects are
illogical and untenable. As I am interested in you and your religion I ask you
to return to-morrow and to bring a book treating ex professo of the Christian
faith, for I wish to understand it thoroughly so that I may be able to speak of
it with knowledge to the King, my nephew.” He also told him to bring with him
an Annamite scholar capable of explaining the words whose signification might be
difficult of understanding to a foreigner like himself. Our missionary went
away much pleased with the interesting prince who had so cleverly concealed his
duplicity under the appearance of open-hearted friendship and cordial
affection.
On his return to the
prison he learned from Christian members of the prince's household that the
only aim of the latter was to discover if Christianity would supply some means
of putting an end to the war. On the following day not having been summoned to
meet the prince, Father Gil forestalled him by a letter which ended as follows:
“According
to our faith there is one supremely efficacious remedy for public evils and
that is to ask God for peace and to promise him that the King and his
government will never attack the true religion. If the King wishes to end the
war let him cease to persecute the Christians and their religion. This is the
cause of all the evils of the kingdom.”
The King's uncle had no
further consultations with the missionary; he preferred to consult a witch who
astonished him intensely by telling him plainly that the cause of this
disastrous war was his having killed four missionaries, then three others, and
his still keeping one more in prison. The prince admitted this to three
mandarins, one of whom took it upon himself to ask the King to grant freedom of
religious worship. In the meantime, however, a false rumor had spread to the
effect that the Christians of the South had rebelled and everything remained in
status quo, the war continued for a
long time afterwards, and every kind of calamity, including floods, drought and
pestilence, fell upon unfortunate Tonkin.
Meanwhile the Christians
of Hanoi had resolved, at any cost, to obtain the release of the servant of God.
They thought that they would be able to make use for this purpose of a Buddhist
priestess, an aunt of the King whose name was Di-Chua. Her influence with the
King being great, she was to say to him that, being merciful to all, he would
vouchsafe to extend his kindness to Father Gil who, after having been detained
in prison for seven years, was condemned to death, though he was guilty of no crime,
having come to Tonkin only to preach a religion the aim of which was to make
men better. That he would therefore be good enough to grant him his liberty and
to permit him to remain in his kingdom.
Di-Chua at first brought
forward many objections saying that the Christian faith was opposed to the law
of But (the idol), and that she would be unable to plead such a cause. “However,”
said the avaricious pagan, “if they give me four hundred taels I promise to do it.” When Father Gil heard of these
negotiations, he opposed them with all his energy. The Christians were obliged
to have recourse to his superior who ordered him to allow the matter to
proceed. But a Christian having brought him an appeal prepared by the
priestess, he read with indignation what Di-Chua proposed to say to the King in
order to be more certain of success. Her report was to be that Father Gil was
no other than a merchant, arrested under the pretext that he was a Christian which
had been found to be false; that the one who had arrested him had been punished,
etc., etc. He sent word to the priestess that if she dared to present to the
King a petition filled with so many lies, the Christians would not give her as
much as a cent. The hypocrite promised for an additional consideration of one
hundred taels to plead the missionaries'
cause not with her own arguments but with those of the Christians. As a matter of
fact she did nothing else than to present to the King the first petition that
she had drawn up.
But God was guarding the
good name and the doctrinal purity of his servant, and of that afflicted band
of Christians and he did not allow them to be dishonored by misrepresentation
and falsehood. The King indeed graciously received the petition of his aunt and
made answer to the effect that what was requested would be granted provided
that the reasons presented were true, which was equivalent to a refusal for the
case having been re-examined, it was proved the reasons given by the priestess were
a tissue of falsehoods. Things continued in the same state all that year during
which the confessor of the faith heard 1,711 confessions, baptized 31 adults
and 23 children and gave extreme unction to 51 sick persons. The Chapter of
Manilla convened on the 4th of March, 1743, speaks as follows of the
work of the Dominican missionaries in Tonkin: “Our missionaries are laboring valiantly in that kingdom in the midst
of the greatest trials, privations of every kind and constant peril to which the
cruel persecution against religion exposes them. Among them all the Rev. Father
Francis Gil de Federich is especially distinguishing himself whose sentence of
death has not yet been carried into execution by reason of the fact that the
King and his ministers are deeply engrossed with matters incident to the civil
war. From this there has followed the truly marvellous result that Father Gil
has established a mission in the prison itself and thanks to his excellent
dispositions of soul and by a singular providence of God, he is so planting and
watering the faith in the hearts of the natives of Tonkin that abundant and
excellent fruits of every virtue are being gathered, for the infidels are
coming of their own accord to him and receiving the faith. Thus is God blessing
the labors of his minister."
Towards the close of the
year 1744 additional trials and contradictions came into the already painful
life of Father Gil. For some unknown cause the officials of the prison began to
quarrel among themselves with the result that the Father was permitted to go
out only during the day. At night he was locked in the prison.
On the 3rd of
March, 1745, our martyr was directed to appear at the court of justice together
with the four others accused with him. On the way the secretary, seeing on the
neck of Blessed Gil one end of his rosary which had escaped from beneath his
clothing, asked him if he were carrying with him some religious article. “Only this,” said Father Gil, pointing
to his rosary. Whether in consequence of the secretary's having spoken to the judge,
or whether the judge himself had noticed the rosary on the confessor of the
faith, as soon as they reached the court of justice, he asked him for it. “Will you return it to me?” said the
Father. On receiving an answer in the affirmative, he gave it to him. While the
magistrate was carefully scrutinizing the rosary, his attention was attracted
to the two medals which hung suspended from it, and he inquired what they were.
“They are the pictures of two saints who
died for the faith.” The judge added: “And
are you willing to trample them under foot?” “Never while I live will I be
guilty of such an act of cowardice,” said Father Gil. The judge then
addressing the infamous Thay-Tinh, asked if he would trample them under foot,
and upon his prompt answer that he would do so, the rosary was given to him. No
sooner had he received it than he threw it upon the ground and had already
lifted his feet to profane it when Father Gil, with a holy indignation, threw
himself upon him and made a supreme effort to rescue his rosary. The judge cried
out to him to stop, and, when this had no effect, he commanded the attendants
to intervene. One of these seized Blessed Gil by the hair with great cruelty,
and thus separated him sufficiently from the bonze to allow him without interference
to trample upon the rosary and the medals. Blessed Gil protested, crying out
with a loud voice broken with sorrow: “Why do you thus persecute the faith of
Christ? You are the cause of the chastisements and calamities which afflict
your unfortunate country.”
It may be readily inferred
from all that took place at this audience that the judges had once more
appeared upon the scene and that the bonze Tinh had won the court over to his
side. As a matter of fact Father Gil was again condemned to be beheaded and
Tinh and his son were completely exonerated. The Christians of Luc-Thuy who had
been in prison all this time were also set at liberty.
Blessed Gil went back to
prison hoping that the crown
of martyrdom which had so long eluded him was at last within his grasp. Before
the consummation of his sacrifice, however, Our Lord was holding in reserve for
him a great consolation. On May 30th, 1744, to his great
astonishment and joy he saw soldiers conducting to his prison at Hanoi one of
his religious brethren who was closely bound to him by the tie of a holy
friendship. It was Father Matthew Liciniana whom he had left in Spain, and who
on the 29th of November of the preceding year, had been taken
prisoner at Luc Thuy-Ha and dragged from city to city as far as Hanoi where he was
to die with Father Gil.
The day after this happy
event was the feast of the Most Holy Trinity. “Brother,” said Father Gil to the new comer, “in this palace in which we meet again, the Lord has granted me the
great favor of having a chapel. I am about to offer therein the holy sacrifice
and I invite you to assist at it.” This was the first time since his
imprisonment that Father Liciniana had heard Mass. On the 4th of June
following, the feast of Corpus Christi, he had himself the happiness of
celebrating Mass in presence of 130 Christians and many infidels. During that
year Blessed Gil heard 1,745 confessions, he baptized 32 adults and 41 children
and administered the sacrament of extreme unction to 11 sick persons.
In the following August
the King gave orders that the idols should be carried in procession and that
great sacrifices should be offered to obtain relief from a drought which was
desolating the country. On this occasion he set at liberty a number of prisoners
and commuted the sentences of a number of those condemned to death. A rumor had
spread which had reached Manila where it was recorded in the acts of the Chapter
of 1745 to the effect that the death sentence of Father Gil had been commuted
to imprisonment for life. But there was no truth in this rumor. The favors of
persecutors of the church sometimes go to the greatest criminals, but very
seldom to confessors of the faith.
The two prisoners of
Christ continued to make use of the restricted liberty at their disposal and to
do all the good in their power to those who were near them, firmly believing
that the consummation of their sacrifice was not far distant. In December a
Christian having made known to Father Gil a proposal of the secretary of the
court of justice to erase his name from the list of those condemned to be
executed, on the payment of a certain sum of money, the Father answered with
animation: “Listen! do not give one sapeque. I have been waiting long enough to be
put to death for Christ.”
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